The present invention relates to a snowshoe and more particularly to a snowshoe which is light in weight and more effective and useful than existing snowshoes, while at the same time reducing the cost to the consumer.
A snowshoe is a device that is fastened to the bottom of a boot to facilitate traversing deep snow with minimal sinking into the snow. The binding is the device which holds the snowshoe to the boot of the snowshoer.
There are a large variety of snowshoes on the market. One problem with existing designs has to do with their weight. A heavy snowshoe makes it difficult for the wearer to do any extensive walking on snow consequently having a negative impact on endurance, thereby discouraging the use of snowshoes as a sport. Another problem with existing shoes has to do with the bindings. Most bindings attach the bottom of the boot to the shoe in such a way as to limit the freedom of motion of the foot and this adds to the discomfort and diminishes the utility of using the snowshoe.
Other drawbacks of existing designs involve shapes which make walking more difficult, size of the shoes which makes it difficult to move the legs, and cost which makes some showshoes too costly for a mass market.
A variety of showshoe designs are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: Des. 161,198, 1,004,900, 2,515,070, 2,615,260, 3,299,541, 3,802,100, 4,045,889, 4,085,529, and 4,720,938. These patents show a variety of configurations. None of the preceding patents teaches the present invention including the specific manner of utilizing bindings in the present application.